Why and how Alcohol negates the exercise habit

If you belong to the section of people who exercise but end up drinking beer or any other kind of alcohol, then this blog should help you decide on which of the two is more important.

I have come across people who have a decent exercise habit, but somehow they tend to fall into the trap of binge drinking at least once a week. Mind you a couple of years ago I was in the same category and hence I’m talking from experience here.

Some things will change if you realise how Alcohol tends to negate the effect of regular exercise –

Slow the recovery process: More often than not I have mentioned that working out in the gym will work the muscles and the only time it will recover is while we log in our 7-8 hours of sleep in the night.

Therefore if you catch up with buddies post your workout over drinks, then it only helps in stalling the recovery process. Alcohol in the system depletes the Carbs which help in muscle recovery and eventually more of this, will lead to injuries in the gym.

Therefore you do not want to put yourself in this space and then blame the gym or the trainers for the injuries you are nursing.

Disrupts sleep:   Alcohol tends to skew your sleep cycle, which is critical even if you are not a regular exercise person. Disrupting the sleep cycle has been proven time & again to reduce your human growth hormone output—which builds muscle—by as much as 70 percent.

I’m sure you do not want to blow away all the good brownie points accumulated in the gym, by lack of judgement. The runners high or for the matter of fact the lifter’s high is far more satisfying and there are absolutely no side effects.

Packs on fat: When you are overloading yourself with Alcohol, the body fights to make a decision. Most of the time it will work on breaking the alcohol, rather than the fat and the excess carbs in your system.

This will eventually lead to a lot more fat deposits in the glutes and thigh area, which will take a lot of hard work to burn. Have you not realised that it is that much more easier to put on pounds than burning it off.

Depletes water & nutrients:  I am sure you are aware that your washroom visits increase drastically with more Alcohol. Well the truth is that more visits to the washroom will also deplete the nutrients in your system.

This will directly impact your endurance performance if you are planning a big workout or a run the next day.You might not want to flush all the good nutrients from your system and see it literally going down the drain.

Therefore what is the best alternative to socialising and not lose out on the effects of working out? Well like me, you can either sit in some of the best bars with a plain soda & dash of lemon barley or even better with clear plain water.

I still enjoy the company of friends and acquaintances with these changes and also ensure that I do not throw away the hard earned lifestyle changes obtained from the gym over the years.It is actually cool to sit in a Resto bar with a glass of ice water.

The reason behind this Blog is not only to highlight a healthy lifestyle but also to touch upon the current fad of leading an unhealthy lifestyle with both men & women and getting addicted to substance abuse.

I hope that through these thoughts of mine you would have realised the effect that Alcohol can have with people who are hitting the gym more than regularly.

It is also for those who do not work out but are more regular with the alcohol scene.By the way Alcohol is the most abused substance in the world and has far more worse consequence than all drugs put together is what an article caught my eye while posting this.

As usual I would love to hear from you about my thoughts. You can reach me on my mail Id coach@satishrao.in or at my Face book fan page.